LITTLE FALLS - A controversial zoning ordinance cleared another hurdle last Thursday when the township's planning board ruled that the measure was in keeping with the master plan and sent it back to the township council, which approved the measure Monday night.

This map from the New Jersey Division of Taxation website outlines in red the property on which the Little Falls township council is to consider a zoning ordinance for Monday that would allow for a 15-unit apartment building. Although the property is in Little Falls, neighboring Woodland Park officials argue that the building proposed for that location would have more of an impact on their residents because of the location.

The ordinance zones to allow for what is expected to be a 15-unit apartment building to be built on the less than 1 acre property that is almost entirely surrounded by Woodland Park. Design plans for the building would still have to go back to the planning board for site approval.

Planning board member Bill Kohlman said at that meeting that although the ordinance expressly states that it would allow for 18 units, when the 34,000-square foot lot area specified in the ordinance is considered, it would only allow for 15 units.

Little Falls officials, in support of the measure, have cited the need to fulfill the township's unmet affordable housing requirement and bring in new tax dollars with another ratable property, while Woodland Park officials object to both the three story height and the density that the proposed zoning would allow for at the property.

Density and height, however, were not up for discussion before the planning board last Thursday.

"The ordinance complies with the master plan," said board chairman William Van Houten. "That is the only thing we voted on."

Board attorney James Bryce said that the only job of the board was to review the ordinance and determine if it is consistent with the master plan. He also argued that the board had no obligation to hear from the Woodland Park residents who had come to the meeting to object to the zoning plan for the property.

"I do realize there are people here in the audience, and this is completely at the discretion of the board, but generally this determination is made by the board and by the board only," he said. "It's not a typical application where you are required by law to actually open it up to public comment."

The board voted 4-3 not to open the meeting to the public.

Woodland Park resident Sam Sheber, a Lackawanna Avenue resident who lives next door to the property, and objects to the proposed zoning, was displeased that he was not allowed to speak publicly that evening. He had came to the planning board meeting along with several council members from his borough and the Woodland Park borough attorney.

"I think it's a farce," he said afterward. "What is a meeting without a public hearing? The public is supposed to go there and not say anything? Not give an opinion? If it's an open public meeting, why is the public invited? Just to listen?"

Mayor Darlene Post said that her town is doing what a Passaic County Vicinage Superior Court judge instructed Little Falls to do, when he found that the township was not guilty of spot zoning, an illegal practice that Woodland Park, and George Pepe, a Lackawanna Avenue resident, who lives next door to the property in question, had accused Little Falls of in a lawsuit that was ruled on in 2012.

Post said that planning board's approval gave her more resolve going into Monday's meeting, at which the township adopted the ordinance on final reading.

"We were just really following what the court document stated," she said. "That we just needed to re-introduce our ordinance specifying the exact number of low income housing units. So in the spirit of that, we are doing exactly what the judge ruled on."

The ordinance specifies that 20 percent of the units built in the zone are to be made affordable to low and moderate income households as defined by regulations set forth by the Council on Affordable Housing as well as the New Jersey Fair Housing Act. As officials currently expect there to be 15 units built at the site, that yields 3 affordable units.

Post noted that at that time of the ruling, Montclair State University had purchased the Ward Trucking property, an 18-acre site on Clove Road that officials had hoped would help the township fulfill its affordable housing requirements.

"This was one of the areas in which we could possibly make up for that and the court agreed with us," Post said.

She said that they had in the past tried to negotiate with both the Borough of Woodland Park and Pepe by reducing the number of units to be built at the property.

"We came down quite low, then even lower, and they did not accept any of our offers so we ended up in litigation and the litigation ruled in our favor," she said. "At this juncture I have to do what is right for Little Falls."

Despite the planning board's decision, Woodland Park Mayor Keith Kazmark argues that the ordinance is not consistent with the master plan because of the building height that it would allow for.

"The bottom line is that it is not consistent because in other zones in both Little Falls and Woodland Park the maximum height is 35 feet and in this zone, the height would be 38 feet," he said.